The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1887-02-04


education ay enable well-clad and polite
rogue to keep clear of the penitentiary and ont
Of the table of criminal statistics but it cannot
prevent crime or suppress it, or reform the
erin inal Our most dangerous criminals are
neither illiterate nor ignorant Our expert
forgers, counterfeiters bank-robbers, express
robbers and other noted criminals are all edu-
Gated men they could not become experts in
their craft If they were not.
The greatest power for good in aiding all
projects for the public welfare in our
modsrn civilization has been turned, in our
day, to be the greatest power for evil, by
the most uuscrUpulous, dangerous and
influential clsss of criminals outside of prison
walls l refer to the printing bress and to the
publishers of criminal literature. These poison
ers OF the fountains of knowledge, from whose
streams the 1ncautious, unguarded and inno-
cent drink in moral disease and death, are
guilty of greater crimes before high heaven
than the hapless wretch who expiates on the
gnlloWs the CRIME OF taking the life of his fellow
man. There is in our country no such prolific
cause Of the decay of morality, Of general disre
the so-ealled Family Story Paper, the lascivious
Police Gazette, and all such ashy literature that
paints repul.ive, hideous immortality in bright
aud attractive colors, and that pard ms or justi-
lies every act of the hero or heroine. provided
that act, no matter whether 1t be in defiance of
ali divine and human law, is necessary means
Tor ratiT1ng some passion of the human heart
IN the trashy novel or improbable, sensational
story, every act OF the hero heroine is justified
under the charming name ofl0ve, and the most
sacred laws of God, a. the fundamental laws
on which our social structure stands, are.srepre-
sented as cruel, unjust, unreasOnab e and harsh,
1t they discountenance unhallow love.
From the reading of such demoralizing liteTa-
ture the minds of the young are filed with dis
tOrted notions of life and life duties, and the
heart is just as surely corrupted as the blood in
ones veins becomes poisoned from the virus of a
corpse. The most loathsome crimes are excused,
or regarded with sentimental sympathy, till
puDi1c decency ana pr0priety are shocked and
offended by the odor of the incense of worship
tnat is Offered at the feet repuisive criminals,
by people inexcusably foolish, injudicious and
sentimental. The condemned criminal who
may have dishonored woman, debased child
hood and dehed all the decencies of life, now
lives in an atmosphere of roseate heroism, and is
m 4de to feel, not that he has met merited pun
lshment, but that cruel laws heartless Judge
and a stupid, unimpre ssionable jury have pour
ed out on the. head of this pitiable victim of
misfortune the walls of unjustiiable vengeance.
Witness the shameful scene to which public
attention has been directed in the city of Chica
go during the past few days-a scene, I thin K,
impossible in any other country in the world !;
not because foolish woman might not be found,
but because public opinion would so unspar-
ingly condemn such folly and impropriety that
no decent young woman wou d presume to try
its patience This young person insists upon
entering into marriage contract, the most
sacred of all human contracts with man con-
demned to the gallows for the atrocious crime
OF melting and abetting the wholesale SLAUGHTER
of innocent men, and to whom she was almost
al 6utlr0 Stranger D6Iore MS neDQlSl crimes
had given HIM his bloody notoriety.
Our laws cannot take cosnizance of this kind
of corrupting lite rature for it does no openly
and p ofessedly endanger the public welfare
But healthy public sentiment should unspar-
1ngly suppress it, for it is The most dangerous
and d ably enemy that can attack the founda-
tions of individual virtue, and thus also destroy
national convictions of right and wrong, and in
troduce general disregard for justice, virtue
and law.
Stern legal enactments have been passed
against professealy obscene literature, and SILL
owing to lax public sentiment on this subject,
it is spread broadcast throughout the LAND, SO
that under various pretexts and DISCUSSES, it
p0isons the mind and debases the heart.
To the corrupting influence offashy, obscene
and criminal literature, the latter throwing
glow ing light OF herolsm and romance over the
dark life of the thief and the htghwayman,
would assign one of the most prolific Causes OF
crime IN our country to day. Could the infu-
ence of this kind of literature be overcome, the
first step in the right direction would have been
taken for the prevention of crime.
The Dlighling influence of bad reading that
poisons the atmosphere of social life can best be
counteracted by training the conscience ofyoung
and old, that they may not only know and ra-
cognlze the evil, but also have the courage and
moral vigor to resist its captivating charm.
There is no institution so sacred as the family,
and no influence blessed with such lasting and
henefcent results as the holy nfuence of q
Christian home The home is Gods own sanctu-
airy for the shelter of childhood. We are not
much surprised, therefore to hear that fue-
seUeftlS of the unfortunate inmates of our houses
of correction were deprived of the sacred intiu-
ence of hom9 at Is years of age aid under. A
proper understanding OF This alarming fact de-
mandsa deeper investigation of the problem
than simply to discover that bad home condi-
tons are largely to blame.
Many causes combine to render bad or dan
gerous the home conditions of the poor; and the
poor, although by no means our greatest GRIM
inals help best to swell the list of statistics.
Some of THESE causes the poor are helpless to re-
sist. In their ceaseless struggle for bread they
find no time to devote to the proper training of
their children, even had they the adequate train
ing themselves for properly exercising this sa-
cred fuuction The selfish spirit of Industrial
ism condemns the hard-working poor to herd
Iogether i'll densely populated centres with little
or no concern for the safeguards that should
shelter themselves and fami les from vice and
crime. The cutters of the streets are the play
grounds for their children, whose ears have been
accusto med from infancy to the language of
b-aspb envy and obscenity and whose eyes, in
heir tenderest years, have been witnesses of al
most every form of vice. In the midst of such
scenes there is as little hope of escaping infec-
ton as there N light be in the midst of the conta-
gion OF cholera or yellow fever. From this in
feced atmosphere the poor mans child enters
the school room. The public school has laken
upon itself the duty which the parent Is unable
to perform, and now, certainly, should not fail
to sacredly shelter the pG or mans child and
overcome as far as possible the evil influences
that cluster around the homes of the poor. The
mothers of tomorrow. 1t is of the most serious
Importance, therefore, not alone for their own
welfare and protection against evil, that their
training in school shall be such as to best enable
them to counteract the baneful influence that
surrounds them, but also that 1t shall be such as
to enable them to improve the home conditions
of future generations The school being called
upon to do an important duty, which force of
circumstances prevents the parent from doing
is not true to its trust If it only cultivates the
mind of the child and even teaches him the
knowledge of right and wrong. 1t must also
train him how to do the right and avoid the
wrong. 1t must not only tell him that vice is
o thousand virtue sweet but it must also fortify
him against the seductions of vice and train
him in loyalty to virtue twill be of Ii tie avail
to tell him that crime is odious and virtue it's
own reward, when he sees dishonesty clad IL
purple and fine linen, the willy schemer winning
The homage of men, when he has piled up his
millions in cool defiance of justice, honesty and
legal enactments, and he sees honesty begging
relief at the usurer's door.
The crafty rogue, whose education has given
him superior advantages over weaker men, steals
millions, robs the poor, the widow and the or
phan, is admired for his snrewdness, especially
if he has successfully reserved a large share Of
the plumber, by an assignment to his wife or in
innate friend, and pitied if caughtby the law
and, if convicted, soon pardOned through the
influence ofthe friends he made unto himself of
the Mammon of iniquity. The poor man per-
haps hitherto honest, and kept poor by the dis
honesty of others, commits one trivial breach of
law, and without pity or regret is compelled to
atone for his crime
This unequal distribution of Justice DESTROYS
mems respect for law. unless they learn to rever-
ence law from motives of conscience and the
fear of God. ALI lasting respect for law, all
earnest regard for justice, must derive their
strength from religion, Gods guiding light to
men. Careful religious training Will correct
many of the mistakes that have started Guild
on the downward path Careful religious train
ing will turn Backward many young men first
initiated into criminal experience. Sound re
lgious training is the best and safest, most sue
cessful preventive ofcrime.
The fathers ofour glorious republic recognized
fully the importance OF religious training and
religious convictions. The immortal Washing
ton in his farewell address to his countrymen
declared /" Reason and experience both forbid
us to expect that national morality can prevail
in exclusion of religious principles" Thomas
Jefferson, who is often quoted by the unbelieving
as one who encouraged or favored agnosticism,
said in his first message as President g Can the
liberties of q ion be thought secure, when we
have removed their only firm basis, a conviction
in the minds of the people that these liberties
are the gift of God "
The learned Presbyterian divine, the late Dr.
Hodge in his ably written article in the Jam
Uary number of the New Princeton Review, very
truly says, " The proposed attempt at erecting
a com lete system of pubic schools from whose
instruction all positive religious elemen' are to
De expurgated is absolutely without precedent
in the history of the human race The schools of
China have ALWAYS been peDetrated with tho rn-